During the month of March, Bank Rhode Island was able to collect 2,372 books through a drive held in partnership with Books Are Wings.

Customers and staff who participated in the drive dropped off new and gently used books at the bank’s 18 branches located around the state.

After collecting 1,400 books last year, the bank set out to bring in at least 2,000 books this year, and exceeded its goal by more than 300.

“As a bank that takes pride in a long history of giving back to the community, our customers and staff are instrumental in everything we do – they’re extremely generous,” said Mark J. Meiklejohn, president and CEO of BankRI. “Making sure every child in our state has books at home helps to foster a love of reading that leads to success in school; a goal we should all embrace.”

The books collected will soon be distributed to students in Central Falls so that they can start building their own libraries and stay engaged in reading during the summer.

This is the third consecutive year that BankRI has partnered with Books Are Wings to promote the importance of literacy by providing free books to local children.

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